Music Video Update: Give It Back

Love Is All, the swedish indie rock band, has made one of the least scary (and slightly comical) videos for the standout song on their new LP, Give It Back. The video features the band members playing in the living room with daddy's camera, all dressed as ghosts, gouls, and goblins in a futile attempt to be scary. In reality, the ghost on bass turns out to be the funniest part. 

Love Is All - Give It Back

This isn't the only halloween theme video they've made. There's the black and white halloween version with Josephine dressed up in a turban, and then there's that vid featured on Stereogum, where they walk backwards through the sunny streets of Sweden, dressed up a little too early for halloween. Oh, and by the way... happy halloween!

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Love Is All - Give It Back

Artist of the Week: D*Face

You could easily pass it on the street and not even notice. You could be staring right at it and consider it another piece of graffiti. However, this isn't the restless teenager, trying to take out his angers on the world through a can of spray paint. This is a man who's developed from that stage, and successfully made a business out of making some of the most rebellious, detailed, intricate graffiti there is. D*Face, or Dean Stockton, grew up in London, England and was inspired as a teenage skater, after observing the graffiti on the inside and outside of subway cars. Years later, his artwork has become internationally known as some of the finest graffiti there is. He is like Banksy, or OBEY, in the sense that his work is mainly a reflection of pop culture, but he is also completely different. The best way I could tell you about his artwork, is by showing it to you: 

Oh, and he does "sculptures" too.

"What now seems like a lifetime but is merely a decade ago I sat slumped at my desk, head on arm pushing a pencil round a piece of paper dreaming up ways to kill time and break the chains holding me to my desk, Monday to Friday each day became the same and I was eating my brain.

Then one day whilst dreaming up further ideas in the series of 'Ways to kill time' the pencil lines on the pad started to become characters, strange and dysfunctional they formed my dysfunctional world which had no rule. Slowly I figured the pencil could be replaced with a marker pen - the Pentel N50 to be exact - and the paper replaced with cheap vinyl which was 'acquired' from DIY stores, these characters once resigned to a life on paper filed in a folder under 'Not suitable for visual consumption' began to have a life of their own; adhered to lamp post and electrical boxes they plotted and linked my route home, one became 10 and slowly 10 became more than I can remember. Each evening and as much of the day as I could rob was spent drawing and cutting out stickers. Stickers became posters, posters became more ambitious... and somewhere in between I quit my job or maybe that was I got fired, either way the inevitable had happened. Like a river cuts it's own path, I'd cut mine.

This family of dysfunctional characters began evolve, they started to satirise and hold to ransom all that fell into their grasp – a welcome jolt of subversion in today’s media-saturated environment - the very same thing I'd grown up on. Bank notes were drawn and printed over and put into circulation for the unsuspecting to receive in their change, billboards taken over with public service announcements... I wanted to encourage people to not just to 'see', but to look at what surrounds them and their lives, reflecting our increasingly bizarre popular culture, re-thinking and reworking cultural figures and genres to comment on our ethos of conspicuous consumption. A Pandora’s box of bittersweet delights - sweet and sugary on the surface, but with an unfamiliar, uncomfortable, taste beneath.

This isn't the beginning, it's not the end it's happy never ending." 

 - D*Face

Rock and Rave Halloween Mixes

As you probably already know, halloween's just around the corner. In case you're throwing a halloween party, !tashed is offering two, free halloween mixes featuring the Gorillaz, Eagles of Death Metal, The Kills and Metallica. The Rock Halloween mix and the Rave Halloween mix are both available on the blog, here. The artwork for the mix cover (above) is by digital artist and animator Meats Meier.

Music Video Update: Another John Doe

This is the music video for Another John Doe, Thenewno2's first track released on their latest album, You Are Here. Thenewno2 is an indie rock band started by George Harrison's son, Dhani Harrison. The vid itself a fun little project done stop-motion style. Nonetheless, it obviously took a long time to make. 

Thenewno2 - Another John Doe

New Barkley - "Who's Gonna Save My Soul"

Gnarls Barkley and Danger Mouse are set to release their latest EP based around The Odd Couple's track "Who's Gonna Save My Soul", on November 11th, via Atlantic. So far, they've already "leaked" the comically violent music video for it via Youtube, and performed the song on MTV. The album version, the demo version, and the MTV live version will all be available on the EP. 

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Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul (Demo Version)

Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul (MTV 52 Mix) 

If you head on over to Gnarls Barkley's official website, you can download the official vid for the track and stream the song itself. None of this however, will be available after November 11th. 

Halloween at Hugs

Found this ad over at Music for Robots. If you happen to be free this Friday (Halloween) and in the Brooklyn area, you can stop by at the Working The Knobs party at 106 N. 6th Street, and dance to some spooky disco DJ'd by the People Don't Dance No More. "Just like a normal Friday Night 1979... Get your costumes on and get ready to do the zombie!"

Michael Phelps is a Guitar Hero

Activision has aired their commercial for Guitar Hero: World Tour. Their approach was "interesting" because they used athletes to be the stars of the advertisement. Yes, believe it or not, somebody actually got Michael Phelps, Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez and Tony Hawk, to do a Guitar Hero commercial Risky Business style.

Andrew Bird Plays With Yo-Yo Ma

If Andrew Bird and Yo-Yo Ma were to make a classical album, that's what it would sound like.

Atlas Sound - Tricks and Dances

Atlas Sound is a musical solo project started by Bradford Cox, the lead singer of Deerhunter. Just in time for halloween, Atlas Sound's released a halloween themed single, Coffin Trick, and followed it up with two so-called "Halloween Dances", on their Deerhunter blog. The first one, Danse Infernale, is comfortingly reminiscent of It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, while the second, Danse Macabre, is more dance-oriented, with a constant techno beat and a light acoustic guitar. The trick-or-treater's also come out with an October Micromix, which you can download here.  

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Atlas Sound - Halloween Dances

Atlas Sound - Coffin Trick

Microcastle, Deerhunter's latest album, is officially on sale in the US tomorrow. In case you can't wait (like me), you can download one of the tracks on RCRD LBL.

Animal Collective Invite

When you first go onto Animal Collective's website, it's just the Animal Collective logo with some weird video of a fish on it. After clicking around however, the special invite above will appear on the screen. You can hear Animal Collective's upcoming album Merriweather Post Pavillion this Tuesday at the River Room of Harlem, NYC. If you're free that night, go, and tell me about it. Experiment with the website some more by clicking around, and you'll find some other interesting stuff. The cover of the new album's pretty interesting too - if you want to get dizzy, go here. 

Music Video Update: Honey Honey

This is the new music video for Honey Honey, by Feist. When you think of a Feist video, you think mostly of elegant, close-up shots of her, dancing or singing her heart out for a good three minutes. However, this video is as far away from that as you can possibly get. Honey Honey is a very elegant, dreamy song, and the video portrays the feel very well. Opening up with the lighting of a candle, the film weaves a story so dramatic (for little clay sailors at least) it is actually quite beautiful. You may laugh when you see this video, or you may cry, but either way, it is a very creative video, and certainly has its artistic touches. 

Feist - Honey Honey

The Revival of Disco

After the disco backlash of 1979, many people believed that disco as a genre had died. However, Politician Rock put it perfectly, "When disco seemingly died in the 80's, it actually just split itself into two factions; house and hip-hop." Over time, house and hip-hop branched out into rap and pop. Electronica was even born from disco, when in the mid-90's, artists like Moby, Daft Punk, and The Chemical Brothers emerged onto the scene before the term "electronica" even came into use. Slowly but steadily, the pulsing beats, the fuzzy bass, the arena style synthesizers have morphed back into what they once were - disco. As of the moment, bands like Hot Chip, Of Montreal, and Hercules And Love Affair, are freely proclaiming their band's genre as disco, and are not unlike the beats that used to pulse through the night clubs of the mid seventies.

Hot Chip is a british, electropop band formed in 2000. They've made three studio albums so far, their latest being Made In The Dark, and their most popular songs being Ready For The Floor, and the single One Pure Thought. With Alexas Taylor's catchy falsetto and Al Doyle as the guitarist from another electronica band LCD Soundsystem, they can pump out some amazing disco beats. 

Of Montreal is an indie/electronica band based in Athens, Georgia. They emerged onto the electronica scene in the late nineties, and have since been making fresh tunes and great music. Between Kevin Barnes's crazy vocals, and the overall arrangement of their music, they can definitely be considered among today's great, modern disco bands. Their latest album, Skeletal Lamping, has received critical praise as their ninth studio album, and has even been compared to the works of Prince.

Hercules And Love Affair is a New York based musical project started by DJ Andy Butler. Their self-entitled debut album was released in March of this year, and was also critically well-received. They've come out with three singles so far, the most popular one being Blind. Hercules And Love Affair are the only band that I've listed so far to freely proclaim themselves as a disco band. They consider themselves to be a "disco revolution", and certainly are one. With Andy Butler's melodious vocals and the danceable tunes, they definitely have a future in reviving disco.

Of course, the revival of disco will never becoming so great as Saturday Night Fever, but it is certainly occurring, and probably will continue to as long as these bands are around.

Top image of Of Montreal.

New Collective Cover Art

If you haven't noticed by now that the image above almost makes you feel dizzy, take another look. This is the cover for Animal Collective's upcoming album, Merriweather Post Pavilion. Of course, knowing Animal Collective, an illusion on the cover of their eighth studio album isn't much of a shocker. 

Artist of the Week: Blu

In the world of street art, one of the most unknown and yet most talented graffiti artist must be Blu. Based in Bologna, Italy, Blu takes graffiti to a whole new level on the massive scale. His artwork is reminiscent of cartoon doodles, except extremely detailed and usually depicting scenes of barbarity, or characters from Greek mythology. When he first has an idea for a painting, he'll often draw it in his sketch book, but when it comes time to create the actual mural, he'll often improvise something totally new. Most of the time his drawings are so big, that they make it seem as though building he's painted on aren't big enough. Here are some examples of his artwork I found on Blu's blog.

Even though the artwork above is fantastic, I think the best way to show Blu's potential is by showing the amazing animation video he is most renown for - Muto.

This isn't the only video he's made, check out some of Blu's other stuff here.

Music Video Update: Daylight

Matt and Kim are the happy, go-lucky, smiley couple that live together and play music together, and just want you to smile too. This music video basically tells what they're all about, with the smiling, and the music playing, and the living together. I found it to be a pretty much adorable film. Not too sugary, not too sweet, but cute and creative. Plus, there's a high budget flying scene at the end. 

Matt and Kim - Daylight

You can also download the song on the Green Label Sound site.

Banksy at Glastonbury

I found some cool Banksy art at the Glastonbury Music Festival. Every year, people from around the world gather to see great bands ranging from Interpol, to Amy Winehouse. I hope to go there someday, but apparently Banksy already has. The picture below is of a Banksy "sculpture" made of graffitied portable toilets arranged in a circle not unlike that of Stonehenge.

You can check out some more of Banksy at Glastonbury here. 

Kudos to Doublehawk for the tip!

Banjo Or Freakout Covers... Radiohead?

Once again, Banjo or Freakout covers a popular band, and this time it's Radiohead. In my last post on Banjo or Freakout, Alessio made an eerie cover of Kape Cod Kwassa Kwassa. Now, he's covered Radiohead's All I Need. As with most of Banjo or Freakout covers, the song is the same as the original only in lyrics. Otherwise, it's is filled with constant echoes and repeating drum beats, almost hanging on the edge of a different dimension. I'm going to be keeping an eye on Banjo or Freakout from now on. Until the next cover - or possible album - you can download Banjo or Freakout's All I Need cover here.

"P.S. Radiohead fans - don't hate me!" 

 - Alessio

Music Video Update: I'd Engager

Off of the latest Of Montreal album Skeletal Lamping, I'd Engager is a bizarre and diverse song shown perfectly with a bizarre and diverse video, showing some insane cartoon creations coming to life on a drafting table. This vid's not unlike Blu's Muto video, which you can watch here.

Of Montreal - I'd Engager

Marc Ecko Advertising

Marc Ecko is the man behind the Marc Ecko enterprise, Eckō untitled clothing line, Zoo York and more. Although he is most well known for his clothing line, he is also what one could consider an artist. Most just consider him another clothing line not unlike Abercormbie & Fitch. However, a good example of his artistic side is the creative Eckō clothing advertisement shown below. It's purpose is to "promote his roots and love for graffiti". The advertisement is meant to allow people to access the ad via bluetooth, with their cell phones and spray their own digital graffiti with the cursor of their phone. Click on the image below for more detail.

Of Montreal Live at Roseland

Of Montreal did a show on the 10th at Roseland Ballroom, NYC that looks like (through the pictures) either a "wild night out" or a really bad trip. Nonetheless, it's been much appraised and noted mainly, for Kevin Barnes performance has he sang St. Exquisite's Confessions while sitting atop a white horse. After bringing a live animal on stage, everyone lost it, and it was like that for the rest of the show. It wasn't just a concert, but almost a play. Sketches accompanied different songs by skillful actors performing on the side, and in one song, Barnes hung from a noose as he sang. Between costume changes, live animals, nonstop music, and basically complete chaos, the show was possibly the craziest thing since maybe, Woodstock?

The shows finale was of course, unpredictable, just as was the show itself. It included Kevin Barnes being wheeled on stage inside a huge coffin, only to emerge covered in shaving cream. After the song, he said "I want to give you a hug!" and ran offstage to hug the first row. Afterwards, they performed a cover of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, second only to the original.

To watch Of Montreal's cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit, click here.

DJ Shadow Remixes the Gloaming

DJ Shadow did a remix of the fantastic Radiohead song, The Gloaming. However, this isn't like the past remixes I've been posting recently by Radiohead fans. Oh no, this one starts out with George W Bush going into a "holy nuclear wars" tirade. This is something you don't want to miss. Click here to download.

Pic of Thom Yorke riding bike - kudos to Speed of Dark.